Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to our first reading, Ezekiel chapter 37, Ezekiel 37 and verse 3. Verse 3, And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest. Ezekiel 37 verse 3. And in this account we have dry bones that are turned into living people. And so we would begin with the vision that the prophet had. We would remember that this is a time that the children of Israel were in captivity. They were in Babylon and Ezekiel in Babylon and he is prophesying those words that should be a comfort and a strength to God's people. Those that were spiritual among them would have seen Israel departed tremendously from what they once were, and though the promises were given that they would be returning to their own land and would be a people again, yet they must at this time have appeared very much like these dry bones, very scattered, and to have no life and to have really no semblance of the people of God at all. And to the end of time there will be that need for the Lord through His servants and through those of His people to encourage a people when they seem to be so low, yea, when they are very low, and when they are very discouraged and very feeling to be not what they once were, and also to have so little, yea, feelingly no life in them, at all, and may we approach the word this morning as a word that is to be an encouragement and a help to us. We might be encouraged in what the Lord has plans for us and what he will do for us, the same as in these Old Testament prophecies, the plans and purposes of God that he had for his people that He would bless them, that He would bring forth Christ, and that through our Lord Jesus Christ, He would bless not just the Jews, but the Gentiles also, that they might be brought from spiritual death to spiritual life, and that He would ordain the means for that to happen. Our Lord in His days spoke many times through the use of parables. And we see that in the days of the prophets, in the inspired Word of God, parables are used as well as in this case. And so we have a picture where Ezekiel is brought in the Spirit and set down in the midst of a valley that was full of bones. and the Spirit caused him first to dwell upon those bones and to look very carefully at them to notice how many there were and that they were very dry. And then the question is asked in our text, He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? What a question to ask. But what a wonderful answer that was given. And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest. Now there'll be many times that we have situations in which maybe asked of us or maybe the question is posed in our own mind as to whether there can be any change, whether there can be life where there appears death, or whatever it is concerning the Word of God. There's many traps, there's many things. Peter, he warns concerning the Apostle Paul that in his writings there are many things that are hard to be understood, that they that are unlearned and unstable rest or twist to their own destruction. And so when there are things that we cannot understand or don't know, It is often a dangerous place. The eunuch was asked by Philip, understandest thou what thou readest? And he didn't. How can I except some man guide me? And yet he did desire that Philip should come up and into the chariot and guide him. And so this is a good answer, is a good answer for us when we're looking upon things that seem impossible, looking upon things which seem so dear, may be our own heart, our own church, our congregation, the city, the town in which we live, those round about us, our neighbours, our friends, Lord, those things that the Lord may set before us and pose in our hearts and in our minds. Can these that are so dead, can they live? And the answer, I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. And so then he, as further things shone unto him, the Lord said unto him, Prophesy upon these bones, or preach unto them, speak unto them, and it's very clear what he was, it was the word of the Lord, hear the word of the Lord. And even in that setting forth the word of the Lord to them, it was to say, O ye dry bones, addressing them as such, reminder that even while the word of the Lord is being spoken to these bones, they are dry bones. There is not to be a hindrance that the words should be spoken to them in that condition. And then we have the Lord saying that these bones, behold, I will cause breath entering to you, and ye shall live. He tells what shall be done first, and how sinews should be laid upon them, flesh upon them, and breath in them. And the end result, you shall know that I am the Lord. And Ezekiel does as the Lord has bid him to do. And it comes to pass, as God said, it would come to pass. And then the Lord applies it in verse 11 through to 14. He says that these bones are the whole house of Israel. is led forth from the vision and from what he is seeing, and he views the whole house of Israel. And the Lord knows what they have been saying. The Lord knows that what we have been saying, what you have been saying, and they're saying here, our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we are cut off for our pants. Very often in the word of the Lord, there is an addressing by the Lord of the words and thoughts of his people that are so dejected and low. We think of Isaiah 49, where the people of God says that the Lord hath forsaken them. And he says, can a woman forget her sucking child? Yea, she may forget, but I will not forget thee. I've graven thee. Upon the palms of my hands thy walls are ever before me. And so he counters what his people are saying. The Lord comes to the two on the way to Emmaus as well and counters them when they are so dejected and when they are so low and opens up the scriptures to them as to what really had happened at that time. So may we remember this, the Lord does hearken to what we are saying one to another. He knows what we are thinking and he brings the word to address to that point and to assure us that very often those things that we are thinking are not right. The Lord is viewing it in a different way. We know, of course, Sometimes it is the other way around. We are saying that we are a godly people, an upright people, a people that the Lord is with and the Lord has his word and saying I'm not with you and you are ungodly and he makes us to know our sins and our iniquities. All these people were already under the chasing hand of God, but God is for his own great namesake. And that was very evident in the previous chapters, Ezekiel 36, that the Lord would do it. In verse 32, we read, not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, being known unto you. He says that he does it for his own great namesake. And so the Lord says to the prophet, that He is to say to them that He will open their graves, He will bring them up out of their graves. And the end result again will be that they will know that He is the Lord. The end result is always to be to the honour and glory of God. We read in Ephesians, the work the Lord would do, not of works, lest any man should boast. It is to be the Lord's work. Then shall ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord. The Lord has the method of telling what he will do, then he does that which he has said he will do. All the prophecies, they pointed to Christ and to the assurance that he would come, the promises of God. And he did come according to what the Lord had said and what the Lord had promised. And we are to notice this method of the Lord in many, many ways. He tells first what he will do and then he does it. And then we look back and we realize that what has been foretold has been brought to pass. And from this we are able to see clearly the Lord's hand. his work. So I want to look at three points this morning. Firstly, the dry bones, and this is bringing it to the state of a sinner, it's bringing it to our own condition, and the whole of these points are pointing to it as applying to us, going away from literal Israel to spiritual Israel, to the Church of God at this present time. So dry bones, the state of a dead sinner, and we consider that in verse 2. And then the Lord's intention in salvation, which he reveals in verses 5 and 6. And then thirdly, the means that are used. And the Lord sets in this parable, in this vision, the means of the word of the Lord and prophesying the word of the Lord. Firstly, the dry bones, the state of a dead sinner. In verse 2 we read, that he caused me to pass by them round about and behold there were very many in the open valley and though they were very dry. The Prophet was caused to dwell upon the condition of these bones right at the very beginning. It wasn't to imagine that they weren't quite as bad as what has been made out, and remember later on the people are saying that our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. In the vision, Ezekiel has shown that this actually is the case. Real deliverance from the Lord is not imagining the case is not as bad as it is. It is a reminder here, we are to look upon it very, very carefully, to take note of what the condition is and to realise really how dead, how hopeless the situation is. And so he was caused to pass by them, he was caused to see how many there were, he was caused to see that they were very dry. what a state and condition man is by nature. Man by nature is far off from God. The sentence on our first parents was that in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Spiritual death was immediate, literal death was to follow later on. sin entered into the world and death by sin. We must be very emphatic that as impossible as this case is here, so it is impossible on man's own terms and own way to make himself alive. I can't think really of a more vivid description of the state and condition of a man that is born in sin and shapen in iniquity, dead in trespasses and sins. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? And there is in ourselves no hope whatsoever and no ability to change that state or that condition at all. And it's very needful for us to realize that state of a man by nature. But what is true in the beginning is true also later on. Going back to the vision here of Ezekiel and concerning Israel of old, it was God that had formed them into a nation. He had given, miraculously, Abraham, who was as good as dead, we are told in Hebrews, and Sarah, whose womb was dry, given a son. And from that son then in due time sprang the children of Israel. God had done that. God had made them into a nation. He had then brought them out of Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. God had done that through a miracle through the 40 years in the wilderness and through the bringing out of Egypt with the Passover. So we will remember the miracle and the wonder that God performed in that and equate that to the new birth and quickening into life the people of God. But at this time, People, God's same people, are in captivity because of their sin. The Lord is chasing them and correcting them. And from that position, they as much need the same power, the same renewing, as at the beginning. King David was a man after God's own heart, a godly man, one that feared God, and that could never be taken. away from him. But in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, he sinned, he brought the chasing of the Lord upon him, but mercy through Nathan convincing him of his sin. And really David had to view himself as he really was. And we have in Psalm 51, the beautiful utterances of David in crying, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He confesses his sin, his iniquity against thee, the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And he confesses this before the Lord. And all of his prayer there suggests to us that he needed the Lord to revive him again. He needed the Lord to restore him again. In Hebrews 12 we read that the Lord chastens every son whom he receiveth, and that no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, yet nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. The time of chastening is of the Lord. The coming of the chastening is of the Lord. With the children of Israel here it was said 70 years should be accomplished in Babylon and then that would come to an end. And that was God's doing, bringing them out, establishing them again in their own land. And so the condition is to be noticed right at the beginning. And dear friends, may we not shy away from our true condition as shown to us and as we feel it. What Ezekiel saw here by the vision was really exactly what the children of Israel were saying. And this was to be a comfort. They could not say, well, Ezekiel, You do not know the true state of things. You are going to give us hope and you are going to give us the Lord's words of restoring, but you do not know how scattered we are, how dry we are, how dead we are, how hopeless is our case. And if you and I come into the house of God and we look for the blessing of the Lord, we need to know first that the Lord does really know our state and case, that the remedy is suitable for such as we, that we are not outside of the hope of the provision of the Gospel and of the provision of the Word of the Lord. To those who deny this state and condition, really that would be offensive to be told this, if with Israel of old there were those that didn't feel they were in this condition. They would say to Ezekiel that this is offensive, this is wrong, this is not what we want to hear. Amen today. One of our hymns says, nor are men willing to have the truth told. The sight is too killing for pride to behold. When the word describes their wickedness, their sin, their evil heart, they don't want to hear it. But if we already feel that, if we already know what we are, the Lord has made us wise and opened our eyes to see our state and condition, then that in itself will lay a foundation for a blessing. Because the Lord comes where we are. He finds us in our lost and ruined state. of the Gospel, that I pass by thee when thou wast in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood, I bid thee live. And so the true state and condition is considered here. And may we be helped to consider our own state and condition, to consider our own backslidings, our distance from the Lord, our deadness, our hardness of heart, our lack of life, our lack of semblance to the people of God. And to consider it in the line of what is set forth here is a foundation or a condition in which there is hope, in which there is a message from the Lord that shall change the state that we are in at this present time. And may there be those of us that truly would say amen, that this is a good word of expectation to change our captivity, to revive us, to put life in us, to do for us that we cannot do for ourselves, that this is a word that gives this expectation. So I want to look then secondly at the Lord's intention in salvation. Now we notice in verses 5 and 6 what is said about this. We read here of the Lord's intention, Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And so the Lord's intention is set forth right at the beginning, before the prophet prophesies, before he speaks, what the Lord has to do is already set forth. And we know this in the gospel, the Lord has ordained this for his people, that he has sent forth his beloved son. And our Lord clearly said that I am come, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And that I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. That as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth shall not die, but shall have eternal life. And the Lord's intention, especially where He makes known a sinnership, where he shows to a person their state and their condition in the day of grace. This is in the day of grace. This is not of the judgment. This is not beyond this world. This is in this world, where he makes known the true state and condition. The Lord's intention is to save and to deliver and save from that condition. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh, He testified that they had sinned and that the city was to be destroyed, but they gave them time. The Lord gave him time. And in that time, the Lord gave them repentance as well. And it is in the day of grace, as God makes known man's sin, that he makes known his intention, even in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And he has a people, and they are sinners, and he will save them from their sins. Not just save them to heaven, but save them from the power and dominion of sin here below. And the Lord's intention is when he sends a people, and really Jonah knew this, this is why Jonah ran away, that if God would send a man, send his prophet to a people, he was sending him for a purpose, to give them repentance. And while Israel was still far from the Lord, the Lord was sending him to a wicked and a fierce nation, and the thought that God would give them repentance, Jonah ran away. And it's good for us to remember this. With the case of Nebuchadnezzar, when he had a dream, couldn't remember what the dream was, but he knew he had one, he said something that was very true to his magicians, to those that were scheming, really, to give him an answer, which was just imagined answer. He said, you show me the dream, and I will know that you can tell me the answer or the interpretation thereof. And if you can show me the God that will show a man his sin and his true condition, then we will see the same God that will deliver and save from that condition. If you had a doctor and you say, well, this is a very good doctor, and the doctor would say, well, I can heal you of anything, But that doctor could not diagnose the problem, and he couldn't tell you what was wrong. How could he then heal you? But God is able, and God does with his people, tell them what is wrong first, and then give his intention. The apostle Paul, he says that I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And that commandment, which was ordained unto life, I found to be unto death. It slew his pharisaical hoax and helps himself and brought him as a guilty sinner. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And so the Lord's intention all the time was the apostle not to crush him, not to destroy him, but to save him and to deliver him. The Lord's intention with the children of Israel here under his chastening hand, was not to destroy them, not to extinguish their light in Babylon, but to bring them out and eventually to bring our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from that nation, and that there should be salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be encouraged in the intentions of the Lord. The very prophecy that is given here is encouragement. Never despise the tokens for good. Never despise those things the Lord does in providence and in grace that give that encouragement that the Lord's intentions are out of love. The end of Psalm 107, we read that whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. In the preaching of the Gospel, in these Gospel days, the Lord's intention is that the nations of the earth should hear the word of the Lord and that those that hear should live as many as were ordained unto eternal life belief we read following the preaching of the apostles in the early church, and that will always be the case. Some believe the word spoken, some believe not. But those that the Lord ordained to save will hear and will live. And really one of the first evidences of a hearing ear is to really fall under the word as a sinner. And when we fall under the word as a sinner, We know the Lord has the purpose of healing and the purpose of restoring. And so this purpose is set forth before us here. But then we have thirdly, the means used, the actual bring this about, bring about the purpose of the Lord. As the Lord said to his servants, go into all the world preached the gospel to every creature, he that believeth in his baptise shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. So there was then a performance of it. They tarried at Jerusalem, they waited for the Holy Spirit, and then they went forth and preached, the Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs following. And so in the third place, the means that are used is prophesying or preaching, and in very clear, it is speaking the word of the Lord. In verse 4, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. What a message this is to us who preach the gospel. We're not to look upon people and say, well, they are beyond saving. They're so dead, they're so dry. They're so worldly, they're so carnal, they're so unlikely to be saved, then I won't preach to them, or I won't speak the word to them. This is a passage that completely undoes that thought. The Lord doesn't stand at the grave of Lazarus and say, well, Lazarus is dead, it's no use me saying, Lazarus, come forth, because he won't hear, he's dead. But He does speak the Word, and Lazarus does come forth. And we have to remember this, that the most dead appearing sinners, those that have no apparent life whatsoever, are to have the Gospel preached to them, are to have the Word of the Lord brought to them. And it is not for the preacher to reason, But he is to say, as in our text, when asked, can these bones live, he's not to decide whether they can or not. And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. And how that is so is all. May we think of those in our churches, those in our neighborhood, those in our family, those of our loved ones. And how many, perhaps, have we written out and said there's is a hopeless case? Or what about our own case? Have we ruled ourselves out as a hopeless case? What about our families, our wives, our husbands, our children, our grandchildren? How do we look upon them and how do we view how they would respond to the word, to the gospel? Or do we not speak it to them because we think, well, They are so far off, they're so hardened, they're so dead, it is impossible. They'll never, ever be saved. This is an encouragement that is otherwise. What the Lord uses to quicken souls is the word of the Lord, i.e. dry bones hear the word of the Lord. We read in another place, give a portion to seven and also to eight, And knowest not what shall prosper, this or that." I always like to, if sending a card, a birthday card, or whatever it is, just to put a line of scripture, just to put something of the word of the Lord, because we do not know what word will be used. If there is no word of the Lord, it can't be used. If we have a plot of ground and we want to grow something in it, If we don't put any seed in it, we cannot expect anything will come out of it. And if we put a seed of wheat in it, we're going to expect wheat will come, and not something else. And so when we put the Word of the Lord before men, then we have that expectation, as it is here, that there shall be an effect in the Lord's time, and in the Lord's way, and in His sovereignty. Well, the effect. There's a two-fold effect here. And it's in a bit different order than what it was said that it would happen. But what happens first was that there was a coming together, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. And I want to put before you here a most solemn thought really, and it is for us in our churches and for those that are brought up under the sound of the truth. We can be an almost Christian. We can be like Agrippa, almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian. You can have those that appear to have life, appear to be God's children. Outwardly, they look the same. They're not like the ungodly world. They're not like the world that lies in sin and wickedness. They're not like those that reject the word of the Lord. They actually live lives consistent with the word of God. They dress like the people, they act like the people of God, they go where the people of God go, and they have every outward looks as if they are a people. And this is what is pictured here, that here is a people, and they are all there, but there was no breath in them. And he says, then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind. There's two things here. One, that we should never rest in just a form and not the power, rest in an outward appearance without the life. And in speaking the word, we should never think, well, because there's the outward appearance and no evident life, then there's no hope for these as well. And here there's saying, well, there's observing, this is the condition. I remember years ago, reading of the account, Mr. Raven, and he was right from a child, and his pastor was Mr. Hazelrath, Smallfields and Redhill. And right from a child, he says, I can never remember a time that I did not love the Lord, his people, and his ways. But he knew there was something missing, and his pastor did as well. And he caused him many cries to the throne of grace. There's no substitute for the new birth. There's no substitute for spiritual life. He's not born of the flesh or the will of man. We don't grow up inheriting eternal life. And so the time came that God did give him life, did give him the spirit. And that work was done. And this is highlighted here. It is through the same means. It is through the preaching. It is through the word of the Lord. And then there came a breathing people. We may ask ourselves, are we a living, breathing people of God? Does Christ dwell in us? Do we breathe the life of prayer daily and hourly? He said of the wicked that God is not in all their thoughts. Is God in all our thoughts? Or is He far from us? Here is a people that loves the Lord, that loves His people, that loves His house, that loves His ways, that are a people that they're very breath and they're very life. And to those around about them can see that this is a people of the Lord. They're not just in name, not just outward appearance, but their whole spirit and their whole life is the life of the Lord in them. Paul says of the Lord that the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He says that For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And all his utterances are that Christ means so much to him. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with him. We may ask ourselves this morning, how much is Christ in us? How much do we breathe his word, eat his word, live his word? How much of the Spirit of the Lord is with us? Are we living? Or do we have a name to live and yet be dead, which was one of the charges against the churches in the Revelation? A name to live and yet be dead. And yet the means of changing this, the means of bringing it about, is that same means of prophesying, of speaking the Word of the Lord. take courage then for ourselves and for those that we speak to that we may not be just partially but completely a Christian and truly have the life of God in us. We read here that they lived and they stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army. And we think of that multitude that shall one day be in heaven, that living multitude The Lord says, because I live, ye shall live also. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. May the Lord then bless us with this work in our own hearts. May we be living people. May we be encouraged to speak unto others and pray that this work might be done in the hearts of those that appear now so dead, so dry. so scattered. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.